


after everything we've been through (you'd think i'd figure out the words to tell you how much i love you)

by leifstroganoff



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Leif Is A Mess But So Is Tobin So It's Okay, M/M, Stuff Just Keeps Going Wrong, Takeout and Tequila Are Pretty Good Solutions To Everything Though, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29439021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leifstroganoff/pseuds/leifstroganoff
Summary: "my failures* are marked with an asterisk*worthy of love anyway"
Relationships: Tobin Batra/Leif Donnelly
Comments: 16
Kudos: 39





	after everything we've been through (you'd think i'd figure out the words to tell you how much i love you)

**Author's Note:**

> happy valentine's day everyone!! this is cheesy and soft and sweet and i realized afterwards that the ending is almost definitely inspired by a grebecca scene from crazy ex girlfriend bc they live in my head so rent free but!! i hope yall like it!!

_Leif is gonna go insane._ Or maybe he already went insane; he’s not really sure as he sits on the living room floor, twisted up in garland that won’t detangle from itself, the smell of a burnt dinner wafting through the apartment, with the knowledge of a leaking wine bottle sitting in the sink, too.

All he wanted to do was surprise Tobin for their first Valentine’s Day together. A nice dinner, some candles, an ice cream cake for dessert (and _maybe_ that one falling through is more on him than the cruel hand of fate, anyways; carrying an ice cream cake in a bike basket probably wasn’t the _best_ idea and even the smallest amount of foresight might’ve been able to foresee it melting), some wine to go with it and then they could watch a movie and call it a nice, romantic night. 

So far, it looks like the only thing on that list that could possibly still happen is the movie and Leif honestly feels too discouraged right now to even think about that.

A quick glance at the clock tells him he’s _running out of time_ and he knows McKenzie can only keep Tobin distracted with office gossip for so long. With a resolute sigh, he stands up, throwing the pink and red tinsel in the trash can on his way to the kitchen to see if there’s _anything_ of the attempted dinner that he can salvage (there’s not) and to see if the wine bottle is _completely_ empty in the sink (it is). 

Just when he thinks he might _actually_ be about to cry, the feeling of failure penetrating deep in his chest, the last nail is driven in when he hears Tobin’s key slotting into the lock. _Damn it._ He was supposed to have at least thirty more minutes here.

“Dude,” Tobin’s voice rings through the apartment as he opens the door and Leif swears he can feel his heart hammering in his chest as frustrated tears threaten to choke in his throat. “I think something’s wrong with McKenzie. She asked me about a couple dudes from marketing and, y’know, at first it was fun to gossip, but then it was like _every time_ I tried to leave, she had something else to say. I had to practically _force_ her to let me…” His voice drifts off as he moves in view of where Leif is staring at the empty wine bottle in the sink, forcing deep breaths into his lungs. “... _skedaddle_.” 

Tobin stares for a second, eyes squinting a little bit in confusion at the tense posture and silence he’s met with.

“Everything okay? Something smells _hella_ burnt.” 

“ _Yeah,”_ The way Leif’s voice cracks betrays him, unshed tears still choking him up. He coughs to cover it up, turning away from the sink and shaking his head. “Yeah, everything’s… _peachy._ ”

“You sure about that?” Tobin says as he steps towards Leif carefully, hands shoved into the pockets of his joggers with a dubious look on his face. “Cause everything kinda seems… _not peachy._ ” 

Leif lets the accusation (if you can even call it that) linger in the air for a second as he crosses his arms over his chest, swallowing the lump in his throat.

“Alright, no, everything is… _very… not peachy.”_ He hesitates through the sentence, still only half sure that he’s not about to cry until he looks over to see Tobin’s head cocked in concern with his eyebrows raised. “I just - I wanted to surprise you. Y’know it’s - it’s our first Valentine’s Day, I wanted it to be nice and then I - I screwed everything up and dinner’s burnt and I dropped the wine and the ice cream cake melted and did you know we don’t have a single lighter in our apartment? It’s very hard to light candles to set the mood without a lighter _or_ matches. _And_ the decorations I got were basically trash, probably _worse_ than trash, so now they’re _in_ the trash and I just -” 

“Leif - hey, hey, _hey_ , Leif,” Tobin cuts him off and his eyes jolt immediately up to meet Tobin’s own, sharp and wet and just a little bit pathetic. “Hey, I don’t care.”

“Well, _that’s_ comfo -”

“ _No,_ I didn’t mean -” Tobin shakes his head, letting a dry chuckle come up with it as he strides over to Leif and takes both his hands. “I mean, I _don’t care._ Everything doesn’t have to be perfect, we don’t need a… a homemade dinner and candles and whatever slightly pretentious thing you probably had planned.”

Leif cracks a small smile at that, looking down at where Tobin’s interlaced their fingers, a slight blush coloring his cheeks, though there are still tears threatening to fall from his eyes. 

“Literally all that matters is that I’m _with you,_ dude. So… _take a deep breath._ Get outta your head.”

Tobin drops Leif’s hands and moves his own up to cup his face, pressing a kiss to his lips and pulling away with a slight smile.

“That’s all I need.” He says, an obnoxious sweetness sitting in the undertones of his voice and Leif lets himself smile, nodding with it before leaning back in to press another soft kiss to Tobin’s lips, wrapping his arms around his back with it. When he pulls away, he drops his head softly into the crook of Tobin’s neck, bending it at an angle that Tobin’s pretty sure can’t be comfortable, but he’s not gonna complain when it’s followed immediately by a tender kiss pressed to the junction of his shoulder and neck.

“I love you.” Leif mutters into his neck, tightening his arms around his back and Tobin smiles into his hair as he presses a light kiss to the top of his head. 

“Right back at ya.” 

Tobin pulls away and Leif raises his head to smile at him again as he grabs him by the hands and starts to drag him towards the living room.

“Now,” Tobin starts, sitting down on the couch and pulling Leif with him, placing his arm around the taller man’s shoulders immediately. “It may not be as romantic, but we _definitely_ have tequila. And there’s a new Thai place down the street that I’ve been _dying_ to try.”

“Oohh,” Leif starts in return, the desperate energy from moments earlier replaced with a relaxed excitement now. “Is it the one where Vinny’s Pizzeria used to be? Yasmeen said it’s to _die_ for.”

“Well, that settles it, now we gotta get it, ya girl Yasmeen’s got _taste_.” 

Tobin brings out his phone, fingers typing immediately to find the place and Leif watches his face as he does, enamored by how _easy_ it feels to be around him, how in less than five minutes he’d taken every source of anxiety coursing through Leif’s veins and shoved them right in the trash where they belonged, and now, here they are, ordering takeout and everything just feels _natural._ It feels _good_ and like he’s exactly where he’s meant to be. 

“Hey,” Leif starts again, catching Tobin’s attention as he looks up from the menu on his phone. “You know you’re the love of my life, right?” 

Tobin just smiles at him and Leif thinks he could live his whole life on the receiving end of that soft smile. 

“ _Yeah._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> im really not kidding when i say comments make my day, i will read and reread and _reread_ even the smallest comments <3 <3


End file.
